Next Expansion Predictions: Darkspear and the Zandalari

With BlizzCon 2017 fast upon us, we're reviewing some of the potential theories for the next WoW expansion after Legion. Today we're focusing on hints pointing to the Darkspear and Zandalari trolls in the expansion.\r\rWarning: expansion speculation\/spoilers ahead. Amazon links are affiliate links, and a small kickback is provided to Wowhead on every sold book.\r\rCheck out the past articles in this series - The Windrunner Sisters, Jaina and Kul Tiras.\r\r\r\rTroll Icons\rOver the summer Blizzard removed from manifestinterface.db2 many Zandalari icons, along with other potentially-sensitive data like Kul Tiras armor, but can still be extracted from the WoW client.\r\rWhile some sites like Blizzplanet speculate that this may be a feint on Blizzard's end to distract us from important leaked data, the addition of an encrypted Raptor mount, upcoming troll novel, and Blizzard's statement that there's more of Vol'jin's story to tell lead us to believe that these icons are important.\r\r"797325","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_ZandalariBabyRaptorBlack.blp"\r"797326","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_ZandalariBabyRaptorBlue.blp"\r"797327","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_ZandalariBabyRaptorRed.blp"\r"797328","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_ZandalariBabyRaptorWhite.blp"\r"797509","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Shield_Zandalari_C_02.blp"\r"797721","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Polearm_2H_Zandalari_B_01.blp"\r"797722","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Polearm_2H_Zandalari_B_02.blp"\r"800999","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Bow_1H_Zandalari_C_01.blp"\r"801005","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Mace_1H_Zandalari_C_01.blp"\r"801009","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Shield_Zandalari_C_01.blp"\r"801014","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Staff_2H_Zandalari_C_01.blp"\r"803814","Interface\\ICONS\\","Achievement_Raid_LastStandZandalari.blp"\r"828455","Interface\\ICONS\\","spell_misc_zandalari_council_soulswap.blp"\r"840732","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Sword_1H_Zandalari_C_02Blue.blp"\r"840733","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Sword_1H_Zandalari_C_02Purple.blp"\r"840734","Interface\\ICONS\\","INV_Sword_1H_Zandalari_C_02Red.blp"\r\rArmored Raptor\rAlong with the Seabraid Stallion, we datamined model files for the encrypted Armored Raptor mount. These files are quite large in comparison to other mounts, implying it will be heavily detailed.\rCreature\\ArmoredRaptor\\ArmoredRaptor.m2\rCreature\\ArmoredRaptor\\ArmoredRaptor00.skin\rCreature\\ArmoredRaptor\\ArmoredRaptor01.skin\rCreature\\ArmoredRaptor\\ArmoredRaptor_Gold.blp\rCreature\\ArmoredRaptor\\ArmorReflect4.blp\r\rWe've speculated that this mount, along with the Seabraid Stallion, may be part of an upcoming Collector's Edition, as encrypted mounts and pets are usually for Blizzard promotions.\r\rThe Return of Vol'jin?\rAt the BlizzCon 2016 Q&A, Vol'jin's fate was brought up:\rQ: Now that Vol'jin is dead and the Darkspear have no prominent lore characters? Who will succeed?\rA: Well, we have some plans. There's more to Vol'jin's story. In time. In time. We'll figure it out.\r\rVol'jin has received significantly less attention than Varian after the Broken Shore. Vol'jin received a cinematic passing leadership to Sylvanas, while Varian has a new memorial and garden in Stormwind, as well as a special questline for Anduin which culminates in a cinematic. The Nighthold cinematic between Gul'dan and Illidan also pays homage to Varian.\r\rCould Blizzard be setting up more in the future for Vol'jin? He has ties to the loa Bwonsamdi--even convincing loa to spare the life of his human friend Tyrathan Khort. After his assassination attempt in Mists of Pandaria, we learn in the novel Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde, that while hovering between life and death, Bwonsamdi meets with Vol'jin in the spirit realm, ultimately sending Vol'jin back to life. Perhaps once again the loa will help bring Vol'jin back.\r\rFor a quick refresher on Vol'jin: he served as Thrall's adviser for many years, but things went sour with Thrall's successor--Garrosh. Vol'jin disagreed with Garrosh's actions and relocated back to Echo Isles. After an assassination attempt on his life, Vol'jin began to rally the Horde to end Garrosh's reign, leading the attack on Razor Hill. After Garrosh's defeat at the Siege of Orgrimmar, Vol'jin assumed the title of Warchief, only passing it onto Sylvanas after being fatally wounded at the Broken Shore.\r\r\r\rNew Book - The Troll Wars\rEarlier in 2017, JudgeHype reported on a new Warcraft novel listing--World of Warcraft: Troll Wars by Paul S. Kemp. This entry was later scrubbed clean several days later, but the original product description is:\r\rSuite \u00e0 la l\u00e9gendaire Guerre des Anciens, un groupe de Mages Elfes de la nuit a \u00e9t\u00e9 exil\u00e9 de son peuple. \u00c0 la recherche d'un nouveau foyer, ces derniers ont d\u00e9barqu\u00e9 sur la c\u00f4te de Lordaeron. \u00c0 cette \u00e9poque, les habitants \u00e9taient l\u00e2ches et dispers\u00e9s, tandis que les Trolls avaient mis en place une v\u00e9ritable civilisation.\r\rL'arriv\u00e9e des Mages \u00e9trangers et leur alliance avec les diff\u00e9rents peuples ont pos\u00e9 les bases d'un des conflits les plus importants d'Azeroth qui est entr\u00e9 dans l'histoire sous le nom des Guerres Trolles.\r\rTranslated by AlakeiThancan:\r"Following the legendary War of the Ancients, a group of night elf mages was exiled from their people. Looking for a new home, they landed on the shore of Lordaeron. At this time, the habitants were cowardly and dispersed, while the Trolls had already established a true civilization.\r\rThe arrival of the foreign mages and their alliance with the different people (note : implied the other locals, humans and dwarves) laid the foundations of one of the most important conflicts of Azeroth, which went down in history under the name "the Troll Wars"."\r\rCould this novel imply the Trolls are having a larger role in the spotlight in the future? Or could this simply be an interesting archival book, removed from expansions, in the style of Chronicles?\r\rThe Darkspear and Kul Tiras\rWe've previously written a speculation article about the role Jaina and Kul Tiras could play in an upcoming expansion. It's interesting to note that Kul Tiras and the Darkspear previously clashed, which could set up some Alliance and Horde tension in the future. When Jaina's father, Daelin Proudmoore, set sail for Kalimdor, his fleet drove back the Darkspear from Echo Isles. We later learn in Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde, that he was involved in fighting back against Kul Tiras.\r\rVol'jin in War Crimes sends a note to Jaina saying he is sympathetic to her plight, so it would be an interesting conflict if Jaina allies herself with Kul Tiras and Vol'jin has to decide what to do.\r\rThe Darkspear and the Zandalari\rThe Zandalari were first encountered in game as a cheerful dancing troll race on Yojamba Isle, rewarding the Alliance and Horde for their deeds in Zul'Gurub. Following Cataclysm, the Zandalari trolls sought to create a massive troll empire to preserve their race against future threats, and we learn about this a bit in the Vega de Tuercespina questline. Vol'jin opposed the bloodthirsty ways of the Zandalari, which has set up a long-standing conflict between the troll races. The Zandalari played a major role on the Isla del Trueno and Solio del Trueno, as well as in the companion novel Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde.\r\rWith the emergence of new Zandalari icons, perhaps our troll friends are back once again.

Comentarios

Comentario de bajerman

on 2017-10-30T14:54:39-05:00

I can translate that better than google if you'd like. It's a little awkwardly written.

Comentario de SniffingPickles

on 2017-10-30T14:55:45-05:00

better not be a trolls expansion, i'm not too much of a fan of the scenery as well as the "legion" green goo for 2 expansions. Hook it up with another panda expansion, or even another ICE style like northrend. Just not a fan of being in a jungle for 2 years...

"Following the legendary War of the Ancients, a group of night elf mages was exiled from their people. Looking for a new home, they landed on the shore of Lordaeron. At this time, the habitants were cowardly and dispersed, while the Trolls had already established a true civilization.

The arrival of the foreign mages and their alliance with the different people (note : implied the other locals, humans and dwarves) laid the foundations of one of the most important conflicts of Azeroth, which went down in history under the name "the Troll Wars"."

You're welcome :)

Comentario de monkiy

on 2017-10-30T15:11:29-05:00

If we're headed to sea for Kul'Tiras, it's not that far of a reach to hit some Troll isles as well while we're already sailing around. As much as people bash on troll raids and story, it's usually pretty exaggerated how much we've actually had to deal with, and we really haven't heard much of them for a while now. Definitely a good chance to expand, even if it's going to be meme'd to hell and back: "NOT ANOTHER TROLL THING."

Comentario de Coobra

on 2017-10-30T15:11:41-05:00

For the love of loa bring back my Vol!

Comentario de Maljinwo

on 2017-10-30T15:12:41-05:00

Gib Vol'jin back

Comentario de Aldarix

on 2017-10-30T15:20:24-05:00

I'm surprised there are any trolls left after slaughtering them in their homes since Vanilla. As far as I am aware, Zul is the only real threat seeking to merge all trolls toward domination. I'd rather they use this as an opportunity to allow sub races with King Rastakhan and the Zandalari to join the Horde after Zul outs him.

Comentario de blissfire

on 2017-10-30T15:28:47-05:00

Oooh, if we do have an islands\/sea expansion, I hope we get lots of Loa content on the Troll island. Questing for the Loa - Harkoa, that nasty serpent one, the rampaging mammoth - was one of the higher points of Wrath for me.

Comentario de Hugnomo

on 2017-10-30T15:39:04-05:00

I'm surprised there are any trolls left after slaughtering them in their homes since Vanilla. As far as I am aware, Zul is the only real threat seeking to merge all trolls toward domination. I'd rather they use this as an opportunity to allow sub races with King Rastakhan and the Zandalari to join the Horde after Zul outs him.\r\rThis is what I want too. Badly. I want an awesome King Rastakhan model and character, leading the united tribes of trolls under the counsel of Vol'jin the Loa.\rI want zandalari and forest trolls subraces at least, PLEASE <3

Comentario de Salvadore

on 2017-10-30T15:42:41-05:00

I still hoping for them to redo the old world, to get many new players in the game that are now hit by this outdated grapics and boring content wall, when they first try out WoW for the first 20 levels and it hurts the game overall, will I think it does!

Comentario de nezumi12

on 2017-10-30T15:44:02-05:00

(snip)\r\rYou're welcome :)\r\ryeah, i haven't trusted Google Translate since they claimed "ecchi" is Japanese for "etch" (i.e. "to carve")

Comentario de Salvadore

on 2017-10-30T15:45:29-05:00

Oooh, if we do have an islands\/sea expansion, I hope we get lots of Loa content on the Troll island. Questing for the Loa - Harkoa, that nasty serpent one, the rampaging mammoth - was one of the higher points of Wrath for me.\r\rI hope we get the other side of the world expansion as well and a complete redo of the old world zones and maybe in place of have the complete storyline play in only the Expansion zones they can play world wild and bring travel back to the world, if that makes any sense :)

Comentario de nezumi12

on 2017-10-30T15:53:29-05:00

my prediction: Chromie is taking the entire modern gaming community back to Azeroth before the shattering and we have to prevent it from happening and summoning the Legion to our home.\r\rwhy? because f*** it. lets ruin more of the time line.

Comentario de kefo84

on 2017-10-30T16:03:31-05:00

If we're headed to sea for Kul'Tiras, it's not that far of a reach to hit some Troll isles as well while we're already sailing around. As much as people bash on troll raids and story, it's usually pretty exaggerated how much we've actually had to deal with, and we really haven't heard much of them for a while now. Definitely a good chance to expand, even if it's going to be meme'd to hell and back: "NOT ANOTHER TROLL THING."\r\rmaybe we find reach trolls isles and ally with them to kill human of kul`tiras ! as if they leader allied with old gods " doesnt make logic . but i would love to see expansion about human raid bosses . would amazing we already knows human have dark side . maybe its time to show us more than this omg light every where

Comentario de Automag

on 2017-10-30T16:48:25-05:00

They said after Warlords Jaina was supposed to have a lot going on in Legion.\r\rThat lasted 30 seconds. Don't read much into any of this.

Comentario de ChaosDecides

on 2017-10-30T17:08:49-05:00

We had the Zandalari in MoP, and even then it was a huge steaming pile of meh.

Comentario de AlakeiThancan

on 2017-10-30T17:15:23-05:00

We had the Zandalari in MoP, and even then it was a huge steaming pile of meh.\r\rDisagreed, I think the troll part of MoP was the best part of the expansion.

Comentario de hakwea

on 2017-10-30T17:22:27-05:00

If he returns I don't think it will be because of the Loa but because of Sylvanas. Of course it could just be another story path that Blizzard never solves. But Helya being a "sea" themed demi-god, having control over the dead, and Sylvanas making some kind of pact with her does make it at least possible they are involved if Vol'jin returns.

Comentario de Kjflood

on 2017-10-30T17:32:25-05:00

Trolls? Again? Look , I love Vol as a NPC \/Faction leader and the Troll lore is interesting to a point, but to keep using\/going over\/fighting them almost EVERY xpac is rather boring for myself.Will I play it if it turns out to be "Trolltastic" (or Orctastic again)? Yeah , I find something (or more) to love about each xpac.Even WoD.

Comentario de perculia

on 2017-10-30T17:48:56-05:00

Suite \u00e0 la l\u00e9gendaire Guerre des Anciens, un groupe de Mages Elfes de la nuit a \u00e9t\u00e9 exil\u00e9 de son peuple. \u00c0 la recherche d'un nouveau foyer, ces derniers ont d\u00e9barqu\u00e9 sur la c\u00f4te de Lordaeron. \u00c0 cette \u00e9poque, les habitants \u00e9taient l\u00e2ches et dispers\u00e9s, tandis que les Trolls avaient mis en place une v\u00e9ritable civilisation.\r\rL'arriv\u00e9e des Mages \u00e9trangers et leur alliance avec les diff\u00e9rents peuples ont pos\u00e9 les bases d'un des conflits les plus importants d'Azeroth qui est entr\u00e9 dans l'histoire sous le nom des Guerres Trolles.\r\r"Following the legendary War of the Ancients, a group of night elf mages was exiled from their people. Looking for a new home, they landed on the shore of Lordaeron. At this time, the habitants were cowardly and dispersed, while the Trolls had already established a true civilization.\r\rThe arrival of the foreign mages and their alliance with the different people (note : implied the other locals, humans and dwarves) laid the foundations of one of the most important conflicts of Azeroth, which went down in history under the name "the Troll Wars"."\r\rYou're welcome :)\r\rThank you for the translation! Added it to the post.